Gone Boy
by AriandEzra
Summary: An Ezria one shot full of angst and tears. Get your tissues out.


**I don't even know. I'm upset with all this Jake crap and I wrote something. **

* * *

Ezra Fitz had never been a fan of being tossed back and forth like a yoyo on a delicate string. As a child, it was between his parents; Diane tugged him to her custody and his father tugged him toward his. Once his mother won, his string was quickly wound up, but not locked or cut so that Ezra could be free. The past year and a half in Rosewood, Pennsylvania had turned him back into that very same yoyo, however his heart strings had replaced the delicate cord – and instead of his mother being the one in control, it was seventeen year old Aria Montgomery who had him wrapped around her little finger.

Liquid courage the previous night had given Ezra the motivation to start sawing away at the strings that bound him to her. His letter of resignation had never seemed so final and the plans he had drawn up with Maggie about monthly visits with Malcolm only cemented Ezra's plan and put it into action.

He was leaving Rosewood and Aria behind.

An ashamed blush covered Ezra's cheeks as he recollected any time he thought there was a chance of her coming back to him. A chance run in at the Brew with her and her new beau told Ezra that it was time to quit being her hidden savior; she'd moved on. It was time for him to let go and move on himself. He acknowledged the fact that Aria was his great love – his one, true love – but lurking around in school hallways with the hope that she'd come charging into his apartment wasn't cutting it anymore. A look into the mirror of reality showed Ezra the dark circles he had under his eyes from sleepless nights and the massive stack of ungraded papers that he'd neglected to get done.

The tiny tumbler of amber colored whiskey was the only thing left that Ezra hadn't packed up and stowed away in the U-Haul that was attached to his compact car. It seemed to be challenging him from where it sat on his bare kitchen counter – the one where he and Aria conducted an experimental round of passion on more than one occasion.

If Ezra looked at the halfway filled glass, the full part of it told him to drink up and unpack – be a man and fight. The empty half told him that he better stop now if he wanted to avoid police questioning for his alcohol level. With a slightly shaking hand, he poured the glass out down the silver sink that he wouldn't use again. Aria wouldn't wash off the tomatoes to make her enhanced macaroni and cheese and Ezra wouldn't lather his hands up with soap to be a suitable sous chef.

With the tiny sliver of hope that he had left, Ezra pulled out a piece of college ruled notebook paper from his briefcase and a ball point pen. Perhaps fate would be sick and Aria would finally come running once he'd gone. Ezra had to leave a note – he had to without question. He couldn't leave if he didn't.

His tired blue eyes followed the paper as he scribbled words in his own lopsided scrawl. For a writer, the words of his goodbye didn't seem to flow out of his hand, but it didn't take long for Ezra to write a decently long and heartfelt goodbye to the person he'd do anything for.

If leaving secured Aria's happiness, it was something Ezra was willing to do. Leaving his final goodbye on the kitchen counter next to his empty glass, he exited the apartment and to his car with the hulking and on to pursue his new teaching job and his new life.

* * *

Aria Montgomery was, and always had been, a dense fortress of a tiny girl. If she was mad at you, she'd freeze you out. If she wanted to protect you, she'd freeze you out even more. And if Aria was upset, the smile maintained after her initial breakdown was never deceiving to many except for the ones who knew her well. Unfortunately for him, Jake wasn't the one who could crack Aria's inner code or see beyond the curves of her smile and the curves of her hips in her karate workout clothes. When she broke up with her rebound, she left him standing muddled in his doorway.

Being seventeen and in love was difficult, especially when the one you wanted so desperately was so very off limits again. Aria and Ezra's love affair had been nothing short of a wild ride on the seesaw until complications put themselves in the middle and stopped it stone cold. Aria had left him for his own good – she'd iced him out so that his job and he would be spared from treachery. However, she was unaware of the effect her wall had on him.

As her spare key slid into the lock of Ezra's apartment door, Aria took a deep breath and braced herself for what was to come. Was he going to let her explain? Would he allow her to fall into his arms like he always had in the past?

An empty apartment was the last thing she'd prepared herself for.

His walls were bare of the posters and the strange tribal masks he'd collected from his years studying abroad. Their sacred ground was missing right down to the bed frame that was usually pressed right up against the wall. Ezra's collections of dusty books and the coffee table that had scratches on the surface from the heels of her boots had disappeared into thin air.

The only thing left was an empty glass with the dripping remnants of liquor gliding down the sides and a folded up piece of paper. Aria bit her lip as she walked over. She lifted up the glass to her nose and inhaled – whiskey; the only time Ezra drank whiskey was when something was wrong. Next came the note which she gently unfolded, but didn't bother to flatten out.

_Aria- _

_As cliché as it sounds on paper, if you're reading this and are confused about the emptiness of the apartment, there's a simple answer to your question – I've left. A job opened up in New York and was one I couldn't refuse, what with child support and everything. I'm not sure what else to write. Well, I know what I want to write, but I don't know how to put it down in words. _

_I'm not coming back, Aria. This letter is my final goodbye to you, unless fate wants to undo its wrongs and we happen to meet up again in the future. In a sense, I did leave for you – I left so that you could finally be happy. No more worrying if I'm going to come swooping in unexpectedly when I shouldn't be – can't be the one coming to rescue. No more constantly having to avoid me in class or being careful of what you say during lessons or when you're in the hallway. No more having to hide **him**__from me. Go out and enjoy your life, Aria. Be the vivacious girl I know you to be. I'm sorry I haven't been able to give you the happiness I once did._

_Someone once wrote that if you love something enough, set it free. Don't ever doubt my love for you. I love you, Aria. Even if you don't want me to, I'm always going to love you. I've loved you through the ups and downs and through the heartbreak. And I'll love you through the separation and the progression of our lives, wherever it may take us. _

_I'm sorry. I love you. _

_- Ezra _

Lifting the lined paper to her lips, the large tears in Aria's hazel eyes fell down her cheeks. "Ezra," she whispered, but there was no answer. Maybe he was playing a joke on her. "Ezra," Aria called again, a bit louder. She rushed to the bathroom and pulled the door open to see if he was hiding in the bathtub or the linen closet. Her heart raced in her chest and her throat burned as if someone had lit a match in her chest and the fire traveled upwards. "Ezra," she screamed, but he never appeared.

He was gone.


End file.
